On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina became the largest natural disaster
in United States history. After the levees failed, it became the
largest man-made disaster in United States history. This blog is a chronicle of
what happened to myself and my family during those events. It is also
a documentation of lessons learned from a survival and recovery viewpoint.

This blog intertwines several elements. One element is the actual
experience of disaster. Another element is a step by step guide to
preparing yourself and your family for the day when you might face some
unforeseen circumstance. I invite you to seriously invest the time,
effort, and small cost in creating your own emergency plans. If you do
not know where to begin, just follow along with me and I'll take you step by
step.

Something I don't want to do is make anyone afraid. Fear isn't
useful. You shouldn't do any of this out of a sense of fear or panic.
You should do it from a positive, forward looking philosophy. However
you work that, you should do it - especially if you have kids. Many
times in my youth I walked around not knowing where my next meal was coming
from. That can be a little disturbing, but it doesn't hold a candle to
the rising panic you feel as you're riding along with nothing but the money
in your pocket, unsure if your house is still standing, with your little
girls in the back seat. Trust me.

The events and stories herein are true, but I have also taken the liberty
of fictionalizing certain elements here or there for a number of reasons.
Some names have been changed to protect the innocent, some names have been
changed to protect the guilty, and some names have been changed to protect
the naive. Even so, I will not spare telling you about my many
failures while celebrating my several successes. I hope that these
pages will prove to be useful to you in some way. Use the menu and
links at the left of any page to navigate.

I have been encouraged many times to write a book
about my experience, but I have decided to publish the whole thing on the
internet instead. I felt that I did not want to 'market disaster', and
I didn't want an editor truncating things that I felt important.
Rather than force you to buy a book that you may or may not like or use, I
have provided the entire content here. If it proves useful and
valuable to you and you would like to support the site, you can use the link
at the bottom of any page to 'pay your own price'. I am not selling
anything here, and you will not be bothered by advertisements or annoying
pop-ups on this site.

There are three different
resources combined here for your use. The first resource is the
Listening to Katrina blog, which is a long story with many lessons.
You can continue reading Listening to Katrina by using the navigation links
in the menu panel at the left, or you can use the navigation buttons at the
bottom of any page. The Listening to Katrina blog contains actual
events of a human tragedy, and as such may contain profanity, graphic
violence, nudity, and various other horrors.

The second resource is a
series of worksheets in a
workbook format to provide a model for your own preparations. If you
want to use it, you can find it here, or in the
left panel of any page by clicking WORKBOOK QUICK
LINK. The workbook is 'clean' and suitable for everyone.

The
third resource is a series of How To pages, which
are simple instructions for various projects, including how to assemble your
workbook. The How To resources are likewise
'clean' and are suitable for family use.

What is this website
worth to you?
I do not sell anything here, require a
membership, or insert annoying advertizing.
If the content is valuable to you and you
wish to support the site, you can decide for
yourself what it is worth.

Yeah, that's a
PayPal link. If you hate PayPal
too much, send me an email and I'll give
you a mailing address.